HISTORY OF ANIMATION

The Character “Roger Rabbit” from “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?”

 Definition
• What is Animation??
• The concept of animation
• Animation in the context of the other arts:
architecture, film, painting, literature and
comics
 1600 - 1699 Fascination with
Light and Motion
The Great Art of Light and Shadow by Jesuit Scholar,
Kircher published in Rome. The book describes a new
invention called the Magic Lantern. It is a box with a light
source and curved mirror that projected images. He also
described the Camera Obsura in the book.
• The Miracle of the Magic Lantern

• A History of the Magic Lantern

• A Brief History of the Magic Lantern

• Magic Machines: A History of the Moving Image from

Antiquity to 1900
 1880s
• H.W. Goodwin invents nitrate celluloid film,
which is a chemical combination of gun
cotton and gum camphor.
 1890s
1892 - Emil Reynaud (1844-1918), France,
opened his Theatre Optique in Paris with an
archetype of animation created by his invention
the Praxinoscope. The Praxinoscope was a
theatrical Zoetrope with mirrors placed on an
inside column that reflected out the sequential
drawings that were on the inside of the drum. He
was able to project 80 frames without changing
reels and could project 10 to 15 minute "films".
But the advent of film drove him out of business
and in 1910 he threw all his equipment into a
river and died destitute in a sanatorium in 1918.
Emil Reynaud’s Praxinoscope
 1890s

1895 - Auguste and Louis Lumiere project

their film, "Workers Leaving the Lumiere
Factory in Lyon-Montplaisir", at the Hotel
Scribe in Paris, on December 28th. This, the
first public screening of a motion picture, is
regarded as the "birth of film.“
As with all early Lumière movies, this film was
made in a 35 mm format with an aspect ratio of
1.33:1, and at a speed of 16 frames per second
 1890s
1895 - Max Skaldanowsky presented films in
Berlin using a two projector system called
a Bioscope1n –
1895 - The first American comic strip,
"Hogan's Alley" is published.
1899 - First magnetic recording of sound is
achieved
 1900s
• James Stuart Blackton (1875 -1941)
England/US makes "THE ENCHANTED
DRAWING." The smile and frown of his drawn
characters is achieved by the replacement
technique used by Melies in his live action films.
It is not considered animation but a prototype of
animation, as it is not continuous frame by frame
filming.
• The live action film "Cinderella" by George
Melies is released.
 1900s
1906 - James Stuart Blackton makes the
"HUMOROUS PHASES OF FUNNY FACES."
This film is usually considered the first known
example of animation as some of the drawn
sequences are shot frame by frame. Blackton
used a combination of blackboard and chalk
drawing and cutouts to achieve animation. The
film's motif was based on the lightning or quick
sketch routine from vaudeville where a drawing
is done in front of an audience.
 1900s
1907 - "THE HAUNTED HOTEL" is another
animated film by James Stuart Blackton. In
this film the animation was created by stop
motion and effects animation of 3D objects
- wine poured into a glass, bread cut, and
a table set without a human present. The
film was a success and introduced 3D
animation to the world.
 1908
• Emile Cohl, (1857-1938) France, makes his first film,
"FANTASMAGORIE." This film is considered by many to be the first
animated film. Cohl was well-known for his comic strips before he
went into animation. He made 250 animated films from 1908 -1921.
Cohl was strongly influenced by the philosophy of the Incoherents,
whom he joined in 1884. The Incoherents were an aggressively anti-
rational group who believed insanity, hallucinations, dreams, and
nightmares were sources of aesthetic inspiration. Cohl died in 1938
in poverty. He had been living in a flat in Paris with no electricity and
died of the complications resulting from burns suffered when a
candle set fire to his long beard while he was getting ready to see
the Paris premiere of "SNOW WHITE." Georges Melies died the day
after; he had been making a living by selling chocolates at a stand in
a Paris subway.
• Matisse coins the term "Cubism".
• Tex Avery (1908-1980) is born.
 In Fantasmagorie an elephant is gradually
transformed into the figure of a dancer in 16
frames
• • Emile Cohl combines live action and
drawn animation together in his film,
"CLAIR DE LUNE ESPAGNOL"
(SPANISH MOONLIGHT).

• The first manufacture of "Bakelite" marks

the beginning of the plastic age.
 1911
• Winsor McCay (1867- Spring Lake, Ohio -1934)
makes his first film, "LITTLE NEMO." McCay,
who was already famous for his comic strips,
used this film in his vaudeville act. His advice on
animation was:" Any idiot that wants to make a
couple of thousand drawings for a hundred feet
of film is welcome to join the club."
• Chinese revolution, Manchu Dynasty falls, Sun
Yat Sen elected president. Who's Great great
grandson "Eddie Pong" would attend the UCLA
Animation Workshop in the 1980s.
 1912
• Winsor McCay's second film "THE STORY OF A MOSQUITO"
("HOW A MOSQUITO OPERATES") is released.
• Wladyslaw Starewicz (1882 -1965) Russia/France a 3D animator
makes "THE CAMERAMAN'S REVENGE." The 3D characters he
animated for this stop motion film were embalmed beetles. He
continued to make 3D animated films after he moved to France in
1920. In France he changed his name to Ladislas Starevitch.
• Chuck Jones is born in Spokane Wash.
• Approximately 5 million people daily attend the cinema in the US
• London has 400 cinemas!
 1913
• John Bray's (1879-1978) US, first film,
"THE ARTISTS DREAM" is released.

• Otto Messmer (1892-1983) the future

creator and animator of "FELIX THE CAT"
series begins his animation career.

• The Balkin war begins setting the stage

for WWI.
 1914
• Winsor McCay's "GERTIE THE DINOSAUR" was the first major triumph in
character animation (it is still a marvelous film). It was shown as a film in the
theaters and also as a multi media event on stage with McCay interacting with
the animated Gertie.
• John Bray opens his studio and patented a great deal of the animation
process but not the use of cels. Earl Hurd (1880-1940) born in Kansas City,
Missouri had patented the cel technique. Bray convinced Earl to combine their
patents and he formed the Bray-Hurd Process Company.
• Bray started producing the COLONEL HEEZA LIAR series that was a take
off on Teddy Roosevelt. In his studio Bray introduced the management
principles of the assembly line to the production of the animated films. The use
of these management principles has continued in most United States studios
to this day.
• Raoul Barre (1874-1932) Canadian), starts his own animation studio. He
developed a slash and tear technique for doing levels in animation and he also
devised the peg system for registration.
• WW I begins.
 1915
• Max Fleischer (1883-1972) Austria/USA, Dave Fleischer (1894-1979) USA
patented the rotoscope process. For the source of the rotoscoped live action
footage to be traced, Dave was filmed in a clown costume on top of a building
in New York.
International Film Service (IFS) was backed by the Hearst newspaper and
used their comics, Katzenjammer Kids, etc., as the basis of their animated
films. The studio closed in 1918.
Pat Sullivan, (1887- 1933) Australia/USA hires Otto Messmer to work in his
studio.
• WW I reduced European animation production to a trickle, but animation
production continued unabated in the United States so when the war ended the
United States had the strongest animation industry and a large inventory of
animated films ready for international distribution. This same scenario was
repeated at the end of WW II. These might be two excellent reasons why
United States animation was able to dominate globally for so long.
• D.W. Griffith's live action film "Birth of a Nation" is released
 1916
• Bray acquires more patents and establishes a patent monopoly for the
animation process. He tried to enforce the patent by requiring all animation
studios using his patented animation process to buy a license and pay a fee.
Some studios paid it, some ignored it, some found a way around it, and some
took it to court. This issue caused concern in the animation business until the
early 1930's. Bray began to produce Army training films, which became very
profitable. His interest shifted from entertainment films to educational films.
Bray adds the Fleischer brothers to the staff in his studio.
• Earl Hurd does the BOBBY BUMPS series.
• Paul Terry leaves Bray and sets up his own studio.
• Charles Bowers (1889-1945) USA starts the MUTT AND JEFF series based
on the Fisher comic strip. Around 500 will be produced by the time the series
ended in 1928.
• Barre joined with Bowers to form a new studio.
• Walter Lantz (1900-1995) starts his long career in animation at IFS.
 1916
• Victor Bergdahl (1887-1939) Sweden started
the KAPTEN GROGG series.

KRAZY KAT, an extremely popular comic strip

by George Herriman, was released as
animation.

• Dadaism founded.

James Joyce's "Portrait of the Artist as Young

Man" is published.
 1917
• • Willis O'Brien (1886-1962) who would
later do the big ape in KING KONG
released 6 puppet animated films.

• Chicago becomes the worlds Jazz

center.

• US enters WW I.
 1918
• • Winsor McCay finishes THE SINKING OF
THE LUSITANIA; AN AMAZING MOVING PEN
PICTURE. It is animated with cels, washes, and
paintings in a very striking and realistic style.
This was the first propaganda film done in
animation. Unfortunately the Lusitania sank in
1915 and WWI ended in 1918 so its use as a
propaganda tool was doubtful and points up the
problem of doing topical events in animation.
• Ex-Czar Nicholas II and his family are
executed in Russia.
 1919
• • Max Fleischer produced the first OUT OF THE INKWELL shorts
featuring a clown based on the rotoscoped footage of Dave Fleischer
in a clown costume interacting with Max. The clown character was
named Koko the Clown in 1923. His name was changed to Ko-Ko in
1928 for copyright reasons. The interaction of a live action animator
with the animation was a commonly used technique during this
period.
• Walter Lantz starts work at the Bray Studio.
• Lotte Reiniger (1899-1981) Germany makes the first of her many
2D shadow puppet animated films THE ORNAMENT OF THE
ENAMOURED HEART

• WWI ends with Germany Signing the peace treaty at Versailles.

 1920
• 9 year old Walter Elias Disney (1901-1966) started working in animation at the
Kansas City Slide Company, with his friend Ubbe Iwerks (1901-1971) who later
changed his first name to Ub. They both used the book Animated Cartoons:
How they are Made, their origin and Development by Edwin G. Lutz, New York,
Scribner, 1920 to help them learn animation.
• Goldwyn-Bray first color animation THE DEBUT OF THOMAS CAT, Done in
Brewster Color, a 2 emulsion color process, it was judged too expensive for
commercial use.
• FELIX THE CAT, the most popular character and series of this period, started
as the Feline Follies from Sullivan's studio. 0tto Messmer not only created
Felix, but also he did the stories and directing on a schedule that produced one
film every two weeks. The merchandising of Felix's image for dolls, watches,
etc was very successful and paved the way for the later merchandising of
animated characters.
• The 19th Amendment gives women in the United States the right to vote.
• Visitors to the exhibition of Dadaist Art in Cologne are allowed to smash the
paintings.
 1921
• • Winsor McCay, assisted by his son Robert makes and releases
three films in a series called DREAM OF THE RAREBIT FIEND.
The films are: THE PET, THE FLYING HOUSE, and BUG
VAUDEVILLE. This ends his major involvement with animation.
• Paul Terry engages in six years of litigation with Bray over patent
infringement.
• Walter Ruttmann (1887-1941) Germany, did OPUS I, an abstract
animation film.
• Hans Richter (1888-1976) Germany did RHYTHM 21, an abstract
animation film.
• Max Fleischer set up own studio. KoKo was the star character.
 1922
• Disney's first animation studio is located in
Kansas City and is called Laugh-O-Gram
Films.

• Oskar Fischinger (1900-1067)(wife

Elfriede) Germany resigns his engineering
job, and moves to Munich to become full
time filmmaker. He becomes a master in
abstract animation, which he calls
"absolute animation",
 1923
• Walter Lantz heads Bray studio.

• Disney Laugh-O-Grams Films studio in Kansas goes

bankrupt. Disney moves to Los Angeles, California and
opens a new studio in his uncle's garage in Silverlake.
Margaret Winkler who was distributing KoKo and Felix
puts Disney under contract for a series, which he had
proposed, that combined live action and animation. The
series was called "Alice Comedies" and featured a live
action girl with animated characters.
• • Starevitch makes FROGLAND, a 3D stop motion film in
France.
 1924
• The Felix and KoKo series were the most popular and well made shorts of
this period. Aesop's Fables and Colonel Heeza Liar were not well received
and reflected the lack of quality common in most animation of the period. In
fact, some people had written animation off, claiming audience booed when
the animation came on the screen.
• Lantz started the Dinky Doodles series.
• Disney's Alice series goes into distribution. The animators who did this
series were originally from Kansas City. They included, Ub Iwerks, Hugh
Harman (1903-1982) USA, Rudolf Ising (1904-1992) USA, and Friz Freleng
(1906-1995) USA.
• The very popular English series BONZO THE DOG by Billy Ward was
released.

The Birth of Surrealism.

 1925
• THE LOST WORLD, a live action film with Willis
O'Brien's 3D stop motion animated prehistoric
dinosaurs and other creatures was released.
• DIAGONAL SYMPHONIE, Viking Eggeling
(Swedish 1880-1925), perhaps the first public
showing of an abstract film. Eggeling died six
days after premier of depravation.
• Live action films released include "Battleship
Potemkin by Eisenstein and "The Gold Rush" by
Chaplin, which was the first feature comedy
 1926
• Lotte Reiniger, Germany, ADVENTURES
OF PRINCE ACHMED, a one hour
shadow puppet film is released. This film
is claimed by some to be 1st animated
feature, (but a feature is usually
considered 75 minutes or longer).
• Kodak produces the first 16mm film
 1927
• Disney started the popular OSWALD THE
RABBIT series. Margaret Winkler was his
distributor. o Fleischer studio begins
distribution through Paramount that
continued until 1942.
• Trotsky is expelled from the Communist
Party.
 1928
• Disney was making each of the "OSWALD THE RABBIT" shorts for
$2500.00 and when the series was up for renewal he wanted a raise to
$2,750.00. Charles Mintz, Margaret Winkler's husband, meeting with
Disney in New York, offered him $1800. Mintz owned the character and
when Disney said no, Mintz set up his own studio by raiding Disney and
hiring away some staff. But Disney in the interim had created Mickey
Mouse while returning to California on a train. Disney did two Mickey's
PLANE CRAZY and GALLOPING GAUCHO without a distributor. He
was working on the third Mickey, STEAMBOAT WILLY, when motion
picture sound arrived.

• Recognizing the breakthrough he added sound to the third Mickey and it

opened in New York on Nov. 18, 1928, with the Powers sound system. It
was not the first sound film: Terry's DINNER TIME was released on
Sept. 1st (Disney saw it and said it was terrible). But STEAMBOAT
WILLIE was the first successful sound animated film; it made Mickey an
international star, and launched the Disney studio of today. It also
ushered in the new age of sound for animation. (Special Note: In 2006
The Walt Disney Company would finally require the rights to the
"Oswald the Rabbit" character in a trade with Universal for a
Sportscaster.)
 1928
• Carl Stalling (1888-1972) leaves his job as a movie
music accompanist in Kansas City and joins Disney (he
knew Disney in Kansas City and was an original investor
in the studio). He would compose the music for nineteen
of Disney's first twenty sound cartoons.
• Lantz signed with Universal and later took over Disney's
OSWALD THE LUCKY RABBIT series.
• Amadee Van Beuren (-1937) bought 90% of Aesop's
Fables Studio (Paul Terry's studio); it became the Van
Beuren Studio. It distributor was RKO. The studio closed
in 1936. Paul Terry left in 1929 and started own studio,
Terrytoons. Georgia O'Keefe paints "Nightwave " an
abstract painting. And so the "Silent Era" ended and the
"Sound Era" began.
 1929
• Walt Disney's, SKELETON DANCE, first Silly
Symphony, Carl Stalling music, Ub Iwerks
animator, where the use of prerecorded music in
animation leads to a very tight synchronization of
sound and picture which sets the standard in
animation for the use of prerecorded sound.
Columbia becomes Disney distributor until 1932.
• Walter Lantz studios open. Distributor Universal.
• For Columbia/Screen Gems Charles Mintz starts
a studio with Krazy Kat as a main series.
Columbia distributor.
• Great Depression begins with "Black Friday"
 1930
• The Warner Bros. Cartoons are born. The First Warner Bros. short
was SINKING IN THE BATHTUB with the character BOSKO who was a
take off on Mickey Mouse. Harman, Ising, and Friz Freleng, who were
old Disney people, started the studio with Leon Schlesinger as the
producer. He was a cousin of the Warner Brother’s and had helped
back the "Jazz Singer". As a condition for the studio each short must
contain a Warners song. So Looney Tunes series, a take off on the Silly
Symphonies, began. "Our policy has always been laughs, the more the
better", was the Warner's philosophy (Schlesinger).
• Disney: Ub Iwerks and Carl Stalling left the studio. Roy signed
contract-starting Disney merchandising. David Hand joins as DisneyÕs
fourth animator. Norm Ferguson's Pluto character born in THE
PICNIC.
• Fleischer: introduced the character of in Betty Boop "DIZZY DISHES."
Grim Natwick developed and animated Betty, he also animated Snow
White. Betty started as part human part dog character that later
changed to completely human. Bimbo, her boyfriend remained a dog.
Mae Questel did Bettys first voice.
• First Terrytoons, "CAVIAR." is released. Distributed by 20th Century
Fox.
• Dashiell Hammett writes the "Maltese Falcon".
 1931
• Ub Iwerks opens his own studio to produce "Flip the
Frog" cartoons. His studio would close in 1936.
• Warner Bros. introduces "Merrie Melodies" as one shot
shorts. Webb Smith, at Disney, starts the use of
storyboards. (Some would claim that the storyboard was
developed first at the Fleischer studios in 1930.)
• Disney starts a studio school under direction of Don
Graham. Jack Kinney joins Disney for 27 years.
• Hamilton Luske begins 37 year tenure with Disney. He
became a co-director on many features until his death in
1968.
 1932
• Walt Disney wins his first Academy Award for "FLOWERS AND
TREES." This film was the first to use 3 strip Technicolor (color) in
animation.
• In Walt Disney's "MICKEY'S REVUE" Goofy is born. Disney changes
distributor to United Artists, which lasts until 1937.
• Oskar Fischinger completes his studies #5-12, done in an abstract
style. He called his style "absolute animation"
• Czech animator Berthold Bartosch creates "THE IDEA" a 30 minute
film using woodcuts. He also worked on "PRINCE ACHMED."
• Chuck Jones lands his first job in the animation industry as a cel
washer for Ub Iwerks. Norman McLaren, while a 16 year old art
student in England, turns to animation after seeing an Oskar
Fischinger film.

• Amelia Earhart is the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic.
Al Capone is jailed for tax evasion.
 1933
• Walt Disney wins his second Academy Award for "THE THREE
LITTLE PIGS."
• At Warner Bros., Harman and Ising leave over money issues taking
Books with them to MGM. Meanwhile back at Warner's Friz Freleng
becomes a head director. Bob Clampett and Chuck Jones, earning
$18.50 for a six-day week, start working at the studio and Ben
Hardaway arrives from Kansas City. Friz Freleng directs "BOSKO IN
DUTCH" and a cartoon Hitler chases Jimmy Durant with an ax in
"BOSKO'S PICTURE SHOW".
• Alexander Alexeieff and Claire Parker release animated film
"NIGHT ON BALD MOUNTAIN", made with pinscreen animation in
Paris.
• Max Fleischer animates "Popeye" from Elzie Segar's comic strip,
"POPEYE THE SAILOR." Jack Mercer's muttering voice was used
later. "Betty Boop" first appears in a Fleishcer "Popeye" cartoon as a
dog.
• All books by non-Nazi and Jewish authors are burned in Germany.
• "Ulysses" by James Joyce is allowed into the US after a court ruling.
Walt Disney’s THE THREE LITTLE PIGS (1933), USA
 1934
• Disney's "THE TORTOISE AND THE HARE" wins the
Academy Award. MGM studios begins producing "Happy
Harmonies" with Ising and Harmon.
• Donald Duck voice debuts on Mickey Mouse's NBC radio
program. Donald first appeared in "THE WISE LITTLE
HEN."
• Warner Bros. first "Merrie Melodies" cartoon is produced in
color. The Looney Tunes were animated in B&W until
1943. Much of these cartoons were re-filmed in color
during the sixties by a Japanese studio. This required re-
creating all of the cels as Warner Bros. had burnt all the
original cels from this series to free up storage space.
• Walt Disney in a four hour staff meeting lays out his vision
for SNOW WHITE. Stalin begins purge of the Communist
Party. o Robert Graves writes "I, Claudius"
 1935
• Disney's "THREE ORPHAN KITTENS" wins the Academy Award.
Don Graham begins teaching at the Disney studios.
• Hollywood Production Code comes into effect. Len Lye, (1901 - 1980)
creates "COLOR BOX" the first film to be animated by painting
directly on film and shown to audience, British GPO unit
• Norman McLaren joined GPO unit. He strips away everything but
action, feels the most important thing is what happens between
frames, not what is on the frame. Tex Avery said it's not what the
character looks like, but what the character does, that matters.
• "I HAVEN'T GOT A HAT" the first cartoon to feature Porky Pig is
produced. Joe Dougherty, a bit part actor with a pronounced speech
impediment, vioces the original Porky in this short, which gave
Schlesinger Studios its first success.
• Ub Iwerks adapts Hans Christian Anderson's tale for one of the first
of his Comicolor Cartoon releases "THE BRAVE TIN SOLDIER."
• Marc Davis, one of the Nine Old Men, begins working at Disney. He
will spend 42 years there.
• The rumba becomes the fashionable dance. Mussolini invades
Abyssinia.
 1936
• Disney's "COUNTRY COUSIN" wins the Academy Award.
• Warner Bros. produces "GOLD DIGGERS OF '49" Tex Avery's first
film for them. He was an animator working at Walter Lantz's studio
from1930 to 1935. Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett, and Bo Cannon
also work at Warner Bros. They dub the animation unit "Termite
Terrace." Frank Tashlin (1913-1972) directs "PORKY IN THE NORTH
WOODS." Carl Stalling joined the studio and set the style of "cartoon
music" going on to compose music for over six hundred films. Mel
Blanc joined the studio as well either in1936 or 1937.
• Max Fleischer produces "POPEYE THE SAILOR MEETS SINBAD
THE SAILOR" a 20 minute film. It is shot on a horizontal rig with 3D
models for background and the characters drawn on cels and placed
between two sheets of glass and set in front of the models. This was
way before computers.
• Oskar Fischinger moves to Hollywood. His color films "MURATTI
MARCHES ON" and "COMPOSITION IN BLUE" had gained so much
critical and popular acclaim that Paramount Studios offers him a
contract.
• Spanish Civil War begins.
• Mondriaan paints “Composition in Blue”
 1937
• Walt Disney's "THE OLD MILL" Wins the Academy Award
• Walt Disney produces "SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN
DWARFS" his first animated feature. (general release
1938). RKO becomes Disney's new distributer until 1956.
• At Warners Bros. Robert Clampett directs "PORKYS
BADTIME STORY" and Tex Avery directs "PORKYS
DUCK HUNT" which introduces the character of Daffy
Duck. Tex Avery based the character on a duck that lived
on a pond across from his high school. Tex Avery was now
developing the Looniest of Looney Tunes that set the tone
for the entire studio.
• Animators go on strike at the Fleischer Studios in New
York.
• The Japanese seize Peking, Nankin, and Shanghi.
 Daffy Duck

Daffy Duck & Bugs

Bunny
SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS (1938), USA
 1938
• Walt Disney's "FERDINAND THE BULL"
wins the Academy Award.
• Chuck (Charles) Jones directs "THE
NIGHT WATCHMAN" for Warner Bros.
• Emile Cohl dies.
• 40 hour work week established in the
USA.
 1939
• Walt Disney's "THE UGLY DUCKLING" wins the Academy Award.
It was also the last Silly Symphony produced at Disney. The Disney
studios begin 'their move to Burbank from Hyperion Ave. in Los
Angeles.
• MGM's "PEACE ON EARTH" a strong pacifist film, is nominated for
an Academy Award.
• Mary Ellen Bute and McLaren create "SPOOK SPORT" an
abstract film.
• Fleischer Studios produce "GULLIVERS TRAVELS" their first
feature. Fleischer Animators go on strike in Florida.
• The Film Act is passed in Canada by Parliament. This creates The
National Film Board of Canada to "interpret Canada to Canadians
through the medium of film."
• Victor Bergdahl dies (1887-1939) Sweden.
• WWII begins in Europe with the German invasion of Poland.
George Pal’s Puppeton
 1940
MGM's "MILKY WAY" wins the Academy Award.

• Disney Produces "PINOCCHIO" and "FANTASIA".

• Harry Smith, Experimental animator, creates "NO.1, alchemist"
• Tex Avery directs "A WILD HARE" for Warner Bros. where he
defines the character of Bugs Bunny. There were three previous Bugs,
but this was the film where the real Bugs was born. This was the start
of Warners' supremacy in animated humor.

• Bill Hanna (1911 - 2001) & Joe Barbera (1911-) start work at MGM.
• MGM produces "PUSS GETS THE BOOT" the first Tom and Jerry
cartoon. It was also the first co-production effort of Bill Hanna and Joe
Barbera
• Walter Lantz's Woody Woodpecker is introduced in "KNOCK:
KNOCK"
• Trotsky is assassinated in Mexico on Stalin's orders.

• Duke Ellington becomes known as a composer and a jazz pianist.

 1941
• Walt Disney's "LEND A PAW" wins the Academy
Award.
• Walt Disney releases "DUMBO."
• Disney animators Strike.
• Norman McLaren joins National Film Board (NFB).
• Fleischer Studios produce the "SUPERMAN" series
and their second feature film "MR. BUG" is retitled
"HOPPITY GOES TO TOWN" then released.
• Walter Ruttmann dies, (1887-1941) Germany
• James Stuart Blackton (1875- 1941) England/USA is,
hit by a bus on Pico Blvd in Los Angeles. He dies in
poverty.
• US enters WWII.
• Manhattan Project begins the intensive research into
atomic bombs and power.
 1942
• Walt Disney's "DER FUEHRERS FACE" wins the
Academy Award.
• • Disney releases "BAMBI."
• • Fleischer studios close.
• • Paramount/Famous studios open with the old Fleischer
artists.
• •Fort Roach, the old Hal Roach studios, becames the
military
• In the WWII propaganda films, Japanese soldiers were
often shown wearing rimless glasses. The reason young
Japanese men worn these glasses was because the
silent film star Harold Lloyd wore them.
 1942
• Tex Avery left Warner Bros.and directed the pilot "SPEAKING OF
ANIMALS" (with its Hoary Toad sequence) for Paramount. However the
series was quicly taken away from him. He then moved to MGM where he
stayed until 1955.
• •Director Fred Quimby, upon seeing Tex Avery's caricature of Hitler as the
wolf in "The Blitz Wolf" for MGM, advised Avery to tone it down because,
"After all, no one knew who was going to win the war."
• "COMING SNAFU", in the style of a coming attraction the Private Snafu
series is introduced (named for the acronym "Situation normal. All fouled
up"). Snafu is described as "licentious, lazy, envious of every duty but his
own, a shirker and the Warner Bros. animation department's idea of the
American fighting man in his larval form, or a positive genius at doing things
the wrong way."
• Terrytoons introduces the prototype of "Mighty Mouse."
• Norman McLaren joins the NFB of Canada as the head of animation.
• By this year many important European filmmakers, artists (Surrealist
painters, Bauhaus designers, etc.) had come to America.
• The first electronic brain or automatic computer is developed in the US.
• Magnetic recording tape is invented.
• Gandhi demands independence for India and is arrested.
• Germans reach Stalingrad.
 1943
• MGM's "YANKEE DOODLE MOUSE" wins the Academy
Award.
• Walt Disney produces "SALUDOS AMIGOS" a
collection of shorts, the studio did several of these. Bill
Tytla resigns, Bill Shull was his assistant.
• John and James Whitney produce their first film.
• Tex Avery directs "DUMB HOUNDED" the first Droopy
cartoon for MGM.
• Penicillin is successfully used in the treatment of chronic
diseases.
• Germans surrender at Stalingrad.
• Japanese driven from Guadalcanal.
• Jackson Pollock has his first one man show.
 1944
• MGM's "MOUSE TROUBLE" wins the Academy Award.
• "HELL BENT FOR ELECTION" - a independent short done for the
Democrats for the 1944 presidential election. It was so effective
that, as the story goes, both political parties made a gentleman's
agreement not to use animation for election films.
• Leon Schlesinger's studio is sold to Warner Bros.
• Warner Bros. Yosemite Sam character is introduced in "HARE
TRIGGER."
• Mitsuyo Seo's Japanese wartime animated feature film
"MOMOTAROÕS GOD BLESSED SEA WARRIORS" is produced.
In the film Momotaro and his cute little bunny, monkey and elephant
friends. happily clear an airstrip, oil machine guns, and fly their
Zeroes to victory while singing happy songs.
• "REYNARD THE FOX" completed by Dutch Nazi's.
• D-Day landing in France.
• Vietnam, under Ho Chi Minh, declares itself independent of France.
 1945
• MGM's "QUIET PLEASE" wins the Academy
Award.
• UPA (United Productions of America) is formed.
• Warners Bros. character "Pepe Le Pew" is
introduced in "ODOR-KITT" directed by Chuck
Jones.
• UCLA Animation's Phil Denslow is born
• War ends in Europe.
• USA drops Atomic bombs Hiroshima and
Nagasaki forcing Japan to surrender.
Preston Blair’s TOM & JERRY